1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns coal gasification in general and, more specifically, deals with a method of feeding dry powdered coal to a fluidized bed/entrained flow type of coal gasification reactor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Much effort has been expended in attempting to find a practical feeding system for continuous dry coal feeding in a high pressure coal conversion process. However, attempts at designing such a high pressure feeding system have been plagued with mechanical failures due to high abrasion by the coal or high stresses required by the equipment and low efficiencies of recompressing lost gas.
Consequently, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for supplying a continuous flow of dry, powdered coal with a minimum of problems which have been encountered heretofore.